Alarm for PM as poll finds Reform set to smash Labour's 'Red Wall'
Reform is on track to smash Keir Starmer's so-called 'Red Wall', according to a grim poll today.Support for Nigel Farage's party has surged in traditional Labour strongholds across the North and Midlands - from 18 per cent at the general election to 30 per cent.Meanwhile, Sir Keir has seen his party slide from 39 per cent to 27 per cent, with his own popularity nosediving.More than two-thirds of residents in the crucial battleground agree that Britain is broken', with just 23 per cent saying that is not true.The research by Survation will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street as local elections loom - with Mr Farage vowing to 'plant tanks' on Labour's lawn.Sir Keir has been increasingly turning his fire on Reform, after abandoning the approach of ignoring the newcomers. Strategists believe the party is likely to be a bigger threat than the Tories by 2029.
Support for Nigel Farage's (pictured) party has surged in traditional Labour strongholds across the North and Midlands - from 18 per cent at the general election to 30 per cent
Labour reclaimed a swathe of 'Red Wall' seats at the general election that the Tories had picked up in Boris Johnson's 2019 landslideThe PM has been focusing on Mr Farage's NHS views, close ties to Donald Trump, and claims he has a soft stance on Russia.Survation quizzed more than 2,000 residents in the Midlands and North last week. Labour reclaimed a swathe of seats there in July that the Tories had picked up in Boris Johnson's 2019 election landslide. Sir Keir's net approval rating was a dismal -26, based on 27 per cent having a positive view and 53 per cent negative. By comparison Mr Farage was on -4 and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on -8. Chancellor Rachel Reeves came out particularly badly after huge tax hikes and cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners, with a rating of -35.Among those living in areas where local elections are going ahead on May 1, Reform's support was 29 per cent with Labour on 20 per cent and the Tories 24 per cent.However, the sample was relatively small for those residents, making the results more volatile.The cost of living was regarded as the most important issue by 53 per cent, with immigration next on 35 per cent, health 32 per cent and the economy 28 per cent.Tony Blair's spin chief Alastair Campbell is said to have warned at a recent pep talk for Labour special advisers that they need to treat Reform as a more serious electoral threat.He apparently suggested setting up a hit squad of backbench Labour MPs to attack Reform's policy positions.Reform has often been seen as eating into the Tory vote. But the party came second in 98 seats at last year's general election - and 89 of them were won by Labour. Survation chief Damian Lyons-Lowe told The Sun: 'On May 1, elections will be held for councils in England that were last contested in 2021 — a cycle during which Reform UK did not stand candidates. 'Today's polling indicates Reform's huge disruption to the status quo across the Midlands and the North.' Sir Keir's net approval rating was a dismal -26, based on 27 per cent having a positive view and 53 per cent negative There have been claims that Sir Keir's dramatic move to save British Steel was based on his fears that Mr Farage will be his main opponent by the next general election (file picture)There have been claims that Sir Keir's dramatic move to save British Steel was based on his fears that Mr Farage will be his main opponent by the next general election.Mr Farage made a high profile visit to Scunthorpe last week demanding full nationalisation, and has claimed that the Chinese Communist Party bought the operation to shut it down.Defending the steel sector is seen as essential for blunting Reform's appeal to the working class. One senior Labour figure told the Sunday Times that Sir Keir's chief political strategist Morgan McSweeney was focused on the threat.'Everything he is doing makes much more sense if you understand that, by the time of the next election, he thinks the battle, in large parts of the country, will be between Labour and Reform,' they said.'He thinks there is more chance that Reform eclipses the Tories than that the Conservative Party eclipses Reform.'
